Sometimes limitation can unlock the imagination, and that seems to be happening as you peer into a show of 55 tiny boxes at the Hawai’i State Art Museum Gallery Shop. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports, two local curators have challenged artists to create worlds inside four by four inch boxes.

Erick Swenson’s sculptures look so real, they make people gasp. You simply do not expect to see a life size seven point buck, flayed, its flesh peeling back from bones, lying, surprised, on a gallery floor. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports, Swenson mixes animals and humans too, so you begin to think maybe some odd looking creatures really exist.

Mid-century Modern happens to be a design phase Hawai’i did rather well. Now a new generation has a chance to snap up some of the finest local artworks of the period. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports on a rare opportunity to acquire art by Hawai’i masters and benefit the Hawaii State Art Museum.

With its $16 million dollar operating budget, the Honolulu Museum of Art, HoMA, is arguably Hawaii’s single largest cultural institution. A year ago, the Museum hired its first Hawaii-born Director. A UH Lab School grad with art history degrees from Harvard and Cambridge, Sean O’Harrow established his career in England, then moved to the Midwest. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports his quest is finding a sustainable model for the museum.

Sometimes a few moments of quiet contemplation can really boost productivity. That’s what the Honolulu Museum at First Hawaiian Center is for. Right now, three exhibitions there at the corner of King and Bishop, offer some of Hawai‘i’s finest artists in new combinations. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa attended the opening of Abstractions in Paint, Wood, and Fiber.

In the 1940’s and 50’s, America’s audacious painters veered away from depicting the world as it looks, opting instead for interior worlds, or simple records of their actions. Abstract Expressionism was the first truly American modern art movement, and it was a huge psychological leap away from anything before it. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports a new show at the Honolulu Museum of Art shows Hawai‘i’s contribution to this world wide movement.

In the 1960’s, internationally known artist Masami Teraoka made his reputation bridging cultures, blending classic Japanese Ukiyo-e subjects with golden arches, and other bits of Americana. On the eve of a two part retrospective at Koa Gallery, HPR’s Noe Tanigawa explains how Teraoka’s fascination with American culture connected him to Russia’s anti-Putin feminists, Pussy Riot.

The Hawai‘i State Art Museum, HiSAM, is one of the state’s best kept secrets, but that’s about to change. The Friends of HiSAM have redone the shop with MORI by Art and Flea, the popular café sports rotating shows now, Family Second Saturdays are gaining momentum and HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports there’s even valet service to enjoy First Fridays.

Ward Warehouse was expected to last fifteen years when it opened in 1975. Now, over 40 years later, it will close in August to make way for a highrise. Right now, along with sales galore, a few interesting new shops have taken old spaces. The Paradise Cove art collective has a storefront, and so does J20+, an offshoot of the January 20th Inauguration Day protests. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports on their exhibition, Welcome to Free Speech.

Paradise Cove is a Hawaii-based collective presenting site-specific installations and art-related events. They create temporary experiences that encourage people to think critically about Hawaii, and they like to exhibit in places where people do not usually think too critically. For the rest of the month, Paradise Cove has exhibits up at Ars Cafe on Monsarrat Avenue and at Ward Warehouse, in a typical retail storefront. HPR's Noe Tanigawa spoke with one of the members.

Ward Warehouse is set to close in August to make way for a luxury high rise project. Many popular shops like Eden in Love and MORI by Art + Flea, will relocate to other Ward properties. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports Na Mea Hawai‘i/Native Books is having a blast until the closing moment.

Pa’i Foundation Gallery at Kālia is an enclave for Native Hawaiian art at the center of the mall level at Ala Moana Center. They’ve made it easy to catch the MAMo Juried Exhibit of ceramics, glass, paintings, photographs, wearable art, and more. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports.

The Honolulu Biennial may be over but Maoli Arts Movement, or MAMo activities have picked right up, recognizing Native Hawaiian artists. This year, Moana Eisele is being honored for her kapa work, along with Umi Kai for his recreations of Hawaiian implements and weaponry. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa caught up with another 2017 MAMo honoree, painter and historian, Brook Parker at Marks Garage, where the three are showing through July 5th.

Nita Pilago’s Wahine Toa designs were a sell out, again, at the recent Merrie Monarch in Hilo. Just eight years in, her small Kona company is expanding production in Bali and Pilago has a new line of lava themed pieces planned for the upcoming MAMo Wearable Art Show. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports.

The Hawaiian word, maoli, means native, or genuine. When Maoli Arts Month started in 2006, its founders focused on three aspects of the vision: a gallery show of Native Hawaiian fine arts, a high fashion wearable art show, and an arts market that could fuel a boom in maoli art production. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports that eleven years later, opportunities have built capability in the community.

The UH Mānoa Art Gallery is showing a heartening collection of new work by its Bachelor of Fine Arts graduates in graphic design and studio art. Fun ideas in a range of materials make these shows a must, along with closing festivities for the Honolulu Biennial.

Today on Bytemarks Café, we’ll find out what is like to be an artist in residence at a science organization. We’ll talk to two artists and find out what they learned while resident at the Schmidt Ocean Institute and the Bishop Museum.

A new gallery on Nu‘uanu Street is adding to the art buzz in Honolulu. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports the Ravizza Brownfield Gallery has opened with a distinctly different mission, one that adds another dimension to Hawai‘i‘s cultural cachet.

Painter, installation artist, Yayoi Kusama is having her moment in the U.S. With sold out shows in Los Angeles and Washington D.C., her installation at the IBM Building is a hidden gem of the Honolulu Biennial. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa takes us there.

This year, the Contact Hawai‘i show at the Honolulu Museum of Art School asked artists to envision our islands a thousand years from now. Some artists came up with post-apocalyptic scenarios, a giant white tiki carving is bound by ropes on the front lawn, while others explored tourism, climate change, relationships, and more. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports on one artist’s vision of Hawai‘i as a bountiful Eden.

People gravitate to Andrew Binkley’s “Stone Cloud” at Foster Garden. Part of the Honolulu Biennial, it is big, and looks quite heavy, hovering over the heads of those who wander by. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa caught up with Binkley there in the Garden to find out what he had in mind.

Matthew James combines painting and sculpture in his large three dimensional wall pieces. You can see several around Honolulu now---the largest is a twenty-one by fifteen foot wall of blue wave patterns on the mauka side of Ala Moana Boulevard, on the Salt complex. You can also see his work in Italy, Miami, New York City, Manila, Iceland, and other locations. James left Hawai‘i for New York City seventeen years ago, and HPR’s Noe Tanigawa caught him at his studio in Brooklyn for these reflections.

In just four years, the annual Contact exhibition has become a focal point of art and community at the Honolulu Museum School. It’s setting a new model with initiatives to assist making ambitious works plus community activities for the whole two week run. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports.

Not just the art crowd, it’s everybody battling to get into Yayoi Kusama’s infinity Rooms at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington. Tickets sell out in minutes, and viewers still have to wait hours for their 20 seconds in each room! HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports eagle eyed art lovers have spotted our own Kusama installation in Honolulu, her pink spotted Footprints of Life, part of the Honolulu Biennial at Foster Garden.

Master carver Kawika Eskaran has built canoes, he’s sailed and works with Polynesian navigators and directs special projects at BYU-Hawai‘i. His sculpture at the corner of South and Ala Moana is designed to bring peace to an area with a troubled history. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports, it is also a navigational reference, for those who understand.

Honolulu is having an art moment. The Honolulu Biennial is raising awareness, new construction is providing opportunities, and established businesses are realizing art’s marketing potential. Without the benefit of traditional galleries, an alternative infrastructure has been preparing artists for this moment. HPR’s Noe Tanigawa traces how choice pieces, many representing Hawai‘i’s stories and culture, are appearing around town.

Art Biennials are big business, as you can tell by the proliferation of bi and triennials around the globe over the last twenty years. Cities launch these high profile art extravaganzas to attract tourists, sales, and cultural cache. The Honolulu Biennial has just opened in nine venues around town, HPR’s Noe Tanigawa reports on how to make the most of it.

These are President Barack Obama’s final weeks in office. After eight years in the White House, many are preparing to bid farewell to the 44th President. HPR’s Molly Solomon spoke with one person who’s showing her appreciation in an unexpected way.